Could BeamNG.drive Become The Ultimate Rally Simulator?

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When you think of rally simulators, Richard Burns Rally or EA Sports WRC probably spring to mind. Could BeamNG.drive take the crown one day?

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BeamNG Rally 1.0 Dirt Stage. Image credit: Track Broseff

BeamNG Rally Stages

Within the vanilla version of BeamNG, rally stages are plentiful. Whether it be timed scenarios in specific cars or time trials in whichever car you choose. There is so much variety before you even come close to adding mods. Check out our Top 5 Best Time Trials Circuits to get some ideas if there are just too many options to choose from.

There are plenty of challenging stages built into BeamNG with timed ‘Rally-like’ scenarios. Both modded stages and built-in ones are available on each map in the game. Below is my favourite stage outside of the main mod focus for this piece. Dead Horse Rally Stage.

Dead Horse BeamNG Rally Stage

Utah’s most famous rally stage, Dead Horse Rally Stage, is a modded effort from author rootCBR. This 11.8 km long gravel stage will take all of your concentration. Starting at the old airfield and leading past the tallest cliffs and canyonlands Utah has to offer.

Dead Horse Rally Stage.jpg

Dead Horse BeamNG Rally Stage. Image Credit: rootCBR

Sega Rally Re-Creation

For those of you who are of a certain age, the Sega Rally franchise will bring you back to the 90s. BeamNG Author Dsden has brought a handful of the Sega Rally stages to the title. Check out the comparison video below to see the surprising level of accuracy across one of the tarmac stages.


Two environments are available within this mod, the forest terrain and the desert terrain. Both terrains include recreations of classic stages as well as a few alterations to make them work with BeamNG. The AI race as the Sega AI did, but be aware of BeamNG’s famous soft body physics. Hitting jumps or punting drivers out of the way is nearly impossible if you want to finish the race.

Not only has the Sega rally mod added a handful of the iconic stages to BeamNG, but the incorporation of two free-to-download mods that perfectly re-create the iconic Castrol liveried Toyota Celica as well as the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo II.

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Image Credit: Dsden

Car Choice​

From vintage rally legends to modern sequential machinery; BeamNG has it all to offer. Not only are there endless stages and maps to choose from, but the variety of vehicles to tackle these stages is mind-blowing.

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Pictured above is just a small selection of the vehicles that are on offer for you to tackle both the modded stages and the vanilla ones with. Configurations can be created from base model vehicles in the ‘Garage’ mode from the main menu.

There is an abundance of rally configurations available in the base game or from the Mod repository if creating your cars isn’t something you want to spend time doing. From the 4WD Hirochi Sunburst to the modded vintage Satsuma FWD car. There’s a rally car for every stage and every player.

Beta Project BeamNG Rally 1.0​

BeamNG Rally 1.0 is the real reason for this piece. Created and published by Track Broseff on the BeamNG repository, this mod breathes a fresh new life into BeamNG. From custom rally stages on dirt and tarmac to custom car configurations based on real-world American Rally Association rules. BeamNG Rally 1.0 is the answer to every rally driver’s dreams.

Over 88 miles/141 kilometres of rally stage are available, and all stages can also be run in reverse within the time trial menus. The maps range from Utah to Jungle Rock Island and everything in between. The real draw to this specific rally mod, however, is the inclusion of pace notes. A revolutionary addition that has put BeamNG on the map for rally fans.

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Future Ideas​

More rallies on all suitable vanilla maps. Hirochi raceway could be made into a rallycross-type stage, mirroring the likes of Brands Hatch’s Winter rally stages. There is also a classic version of Hirochi raceway available, opening up the opportunity to have a classic version of the rallycross-like course for older generations of cars.

Different eras such as modern WRC and Group A/B. The inclusion of WRC-like cars is already in the mod with the Cherrier Vivace, however, a replica livery of modern machinery would go a long way. As for groups B and A, there are car mods available that could be utilised. Some further configurations and additional parts could be added to base content cars as well.

Custom rally parts. More classic rally parts such as light bars, body kits and classic liveries would be a great addition to further edit the configurations given by the mod creator.

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East Coast USA Stage. Image credit: Track Broseff
Have you given BeamNG.drive’s rally stages a try? Let us know how you do over on X @RaceDepartment or down in the comments below.
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

Premium
Been playing AMS2 since it was first available and only very recently gave dirt a real effort. I was very surprised by how good it felt and how engaging the drive was. Would be pretty awesome to see rally added to AMS2's depth of content, would be a hell of a good time. Hell, soak up some of the Codemasters team that got laid off to help build out the content.
Now go try RBRto see how overrated AMS2 is
 
Moderator
Premium
lots of talk, screenshots, articles and comparisons between one of the games with the highest number of players and there is no a forum section dedicated to it.

Why?
Maybe you didn't look hard enough:
It's been there for over 10 years.
 
Shameless self advertisement, but in case some of you reading this would be interested :
I quite agree with some cons about Beam, like the handling on tarmac and level details of the terrains, however I still think it has a huge potential, if set up corecly (took me quite a while to adjust FFB settings, but you can eventually get there...
 
Premium
Shameless self advertisement, but in case some of you reading this would be interested :
I quite agree with some cons about Beam, like the handling on tarmac and level details of the terrains, however I still think it has a huge potential, if set up corecly (took me quite a while to adjust FFB settings, but you can eventually get there...
Fantastic work 'Bardaff' looks great...not sure how to try this out though. is there no download at the moment on BeamNG?

As with most Sims there will be always differences, good and bad and personally have my favorites, but BeamNG is showing huge potential and i'm looking forward to it's future.;)

2 BeamNG Hiroshi Sunburst RALLY at JOHNSON VALLEY copy.jpg
1 BeamNG VIVACE RALLY at ITALY copy.jpg
 
Premium
lots of talk, screenshots, articles and comparisons between one of the games with the highest number of players and there is no a forum section dedicated to it.

Why?
Sadly it is buried deep now:(...but typing 'BeamNG' in the 'Search' bar is the best way to find it :thumbsup:
 
If he hits the link in my reply it'll take him right to it, then he can enjoy your amazing screenshots.
Hi thanks for the link,
I agree with Gourley that in a text forum I should have used the search button... But honestly I was looking for a section and not a thread that was linked to me.

Surely you have your reasons in not creating it. (The fisrt message dates 2013 and it has only 18 pages)

Thanks again for linking the Beamng thread.
 
In the current state of development BeamNG would be incapable to to succeed RBR. With a better stage design, better menus and rallying features it could beat EA with ease, but not RBR.

That said, the physics engine with some improvements in tire model, using real data and realistic chasis and suspension design, that physics engine can be the core of a worthy new rally simulator. But BeamNG belongs to another massively bigger niche and has a different user base, rallying is a lot more niche, and BeamNG is enjoying a lot of success as a free roam sandbox for all kind of stunts and free roaming.

BeamNG devs could create a new destruction derby or carmaggedon successor too, their deformation physics are the best in business. It would be easier and way more profitable than rallying that has fallen quite a lot in popularity since the late 90's and specially the late 2000's. In the 90's it would be a vastly different landscape for a rallying simulator.

The next step for them should be create terrain and obstacles that are dynamic deformable/destructible and terrain that get's eroded by the pass or crash of vehicles. People want to see barriers deforming in a crash, they want to see a small tree falling down in a crash, to watch a house getting destroyed by a truck crash or seeing how after many passes over a dirt road the road surface changes in the parts in where tires have eroded the ground like in dirt bikes races do.

Turning it into a dedicated rallying simulator is a waste of potential and resources, it can be so much more than that.
 
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Fantastic work 'Bardaff' looks great...not sure how to try this out though. is there no download at the moment on BeamNG?

As with most Sims there will be always differences, good and bad and personally have my favorites, but BeamNG is showing huge potential and i'm looking forward to it's future.;)

View attachment 726811View attachment 726813
Thank you! I just updated the link in video description. This mod is free but on my patreon page only, because I'm working full time on a hopefully long serie of stages, and I'll need support to be able to build the next ones.
Totally agree with you that all sims have their pros and cons, but yes its very interesting to see where things can go eventually, which doesn't negates the other existing solutions I guess ^^
 
Never took the leap on RBR...never been a rally nut but do enjoy dabbling from time to time. Maybe one of these days I'll give it a go and study up on how to get it up to speed in 2024. Does RBR have VR support, third party or otherwise?
Yes it has. Rallysimfans supports it.
 

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